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Every project supported by Gebert Rüf Stiftung is made accessible with a web presentation that informs about the core data of the project. With this public presentation, the foundation publishes the funding results achieved and contributes to the communication of science to society.

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Composyt Light Labs

Editorial

Für den Inhalt der Angaben zeichnet die Projektleitung verantwortlich.

Cooperation

Dieses von der Gebert Rüf Stiftung geförderte Projekt wird von folgenden weiteren Projektpartnern mitgetragen: Lemoptix; Morel; University of Stuttgart; Bayer MaterialScience

Project data

  • Project no: GRS-022/14 
  • Amount of funding: CHF 350'000 
  • Approved: 08.07.2014 
  • Duration: 10.2014 - 03.2015 
  • Area of activity:  Pilotprojekte, 1998 - 2018

Project management

Project description

Smart glasses have huge potential for the future of mobile computing and visual augmented reality. However existing see-through near-eye display technologies- the central technology in smart glasses- have extremely difficult trade-offs. Current see-through displays aimed at the consumer market are either too small in image size for augmented reality (for example Google Glass), or too bulky to be practical. Further, aesthetics are of crucial importance and all existing wearable display technologies fall short of the ideal: discreet and normal looking eyewear.

Our solution is a patented see-through display architecture invented at EPFL that is capable of producing a field of view suitable for augmented reality in the stylish form-factor of normal eyewear.

What is special about the project?

We recently demonstrated a proof of concept prototype of our technology with a monochrome display. To obtain a full color device, a key challenge is the development of a compact and low energy consumption display light source. This represents a technically challenging development that involves customized semiconductor light sources. Although challenging, we believe this is fundamentally doable with existing technology and a crucial step toward a uniquely low power immersive near the eye display.

Status/Results

On the technical side, we have successfully implemented a proof of concept demonstrator of our technological approach. This demonstrator shows several advantages as compared to the competition, the main ones being:
- The display form factor allows smart glasses to look indistinguishable from normal stylish glasses or sunglasses;
- The screen is highly transparent;
- The screen can be integrated into prescription glasses.

We recently incorporated Composyt Light Labs as an SA, and our business idea as attracted a lot of interest. The feedback from the experts in the consumer electronic space is: it is the only technology without a fundamental flaw but our approach has to catch up in terms of image quality and color. In this way it is a disruptive technology, with excellent potential to overtake the established near-eye display technologies.

Our project received support from EPFL, Venture Kick, CTI and Swissphotonics.

Publications

M. Guillaumee, P. Vahdati, E. Tremblay, A. Mader, G. Bernasconi, V. Cadarso, J. Grossenbacher, J. Brugger, R. Sprague, C. Moser, «Curved holographic combiner for color head worn display», IEEE. Journal of Display Technology, 10, 444 (2013).

Media

09.01.2014: La Télé - Les outils technologiques de demain se dessinent à l'EPFL: http://latele.ch/play?i=41565
17.01.2014: Bilan - Le numérique investit la mode: http://www.bilan.ch/techno-les-plus-de-la-redaction/le-numerique-investit-la-mode
19.02.2014: Bilan - 50 start-up suisses dans lesquelles investor: http://www.bilan.ch/techno-les-plus-de-la-redaction/50-start-suisses-dans-lesquelles-investir/page/0/5
25.04.2014: L’Officiel – Future Fashion
08.06.2014: TV5 Monde: http://www.tv5.org/cms/chaine-francophone/Nouvelles-technologies/p-23571-Nouvelles-technologies.htm?time=20140608

Links

Persons involved in the project

Last update to this project presentation  17.10.2018